Decision Report 201707673

Summary

Mr C complained that the partnership were incorrectly managing his son's direct payment account, as it had fallen into financial deficit.

We found that it was clear from the financial information that Mr C had taken on additional care services, and that this had led to the deficit in the account. However, Mr C had written to the partnership at the time he took on the additional services, and he had continued to provide the necessary financial information to the partnership. Had this information been acted on, the issue would have been identified. We upheld the complaint.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• Apologise to Mr C for failing to review and monitor the direct payment account appropriately.The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at https://www.spso.org.uk/leaflets-and-guidance.

What we said should change to put things right in future:

• Review the outstanding invoices due and, in light of the failings identified here, meet the liability for the amount due.
• Carry out a review of internal processes to ensure that if new or additional care provisions are being included in financial returns that referrals made to the duty social worker are checked against the user's care/support plan.

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.